Travel Rabble: AT Day 171-174 Hot Springs

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

AT Day 171-174 Hot Springs

October 31
Miles: 0
Total: 1910
So. Yeah. we're still in Hot Springs. A twist of fate that had nothing to do with hiking had put us in town to late to hike out on Sunday. Then,   as you may know, there's a hurricane happening.   To look out a window in Hot Springs it looks like it's just cold and rainy. Unfortunately, as you get up into higher elevation that cold rain turns into snow.
On Monday, we heard school got delayed and then let out early. We saw cars driving into town with snow (heavy wet snow) on their hoods and after procrastinating in town until around 1:30 we decided to go to the Laughing Heart Hostel.   I was feeling a bit unsettled about our choice. I thought we, maybe, should have just hiked out and chanced it.    However, about 3 hours later two hiker friends came into the hostel. They had chanced the weather-made it 9 miles and then had to turn around and come back. It was that bad up there.    When I saw them walk through the door, I felt much better about our decision to stay.
So, here we are.   It's Wednesday today, the weather has a chance of clearing up but we're not going to chance it. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and getting warmer. We'll head out tomorrow. There might still be snow on the ground but at least the sun will be shining.
In the meantime, we've been hanging out at the Laughing Heart Hostel with about 12 other hikers. We watched "The Way" and "Pirate Radio" and some other movie. We've been playing card games and wandering into town to eat. Overall, it's a pretty great place to be stuck. The owners are former thru-hikers from 2007. They met on the trail in 2006, got married and part of their wedding vows was to thru-hike the trail together.   They're a really fun couple and I've enjoyed talking to them. Chuck Norris (his trail name) takes people out on the Florida trail every year and is influential in helping people organize their finances so they can hike. In fact, we met one of his converts earlier this year. The Myakka Mules went to one of his talks and they took his advice. The downsized their massive house, got rid of one car and when they figured out their finances they realized they could hike for the next 15 years!
Being here has certainly given us things to think about!